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Jobless claims disappoint, leaving door open for QE3

English: James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Precious Metals prices added to early gains after the release of the weekly jobless claims report. After an upward revision from last week’s numbers, the report showed increases across the board in new claims, existing claims, and the four week moving average. Jumps in the prices of Gold and Silver are most likely due to the fact that yesterday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes revealed that a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) was likely unless there was significant improvement in economic reports, and this report certainly does not indicate improvement.

In stark contrast to the minutes of the FOMC meeting released yesterday, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said, “If we were to resume, and I think we will, 2 percent growth, maybe a bit stronger than that in the second half of the year, unemployment ticks down through the rest of the year, that’s not a great outcome but that’s a good enough outcome to keep us on hold,” regarding QE3. Bullard also said the market may be setting itself up for disappointment. He said, “Probably the best thing to talk about here is what would that action really be? I think the markets have the idea of some gigantic action. I’m not sure if the data really warrants that.”

The euro continues to rise against the dollar, which is supporting the Gold price’s recent moves. Chen Min of Jinrui Futures in China said, “The Fed’s tone is totally different in the minutes from previous comments, and that helped Gold break from the previous range and move into a higher price range ahead of the peak consumption season.”